A beloved Broadway actor woke from a medically induced coma to find that his right leg had been amputated during his coronavirus battle

• Nick Cordero is awake after weeks of being in a medically induced coma while he fought COVID-19, his wife announced on Tuesday.
• Although Cordero is weakened to the point that opening and closing his eyes exhaust him, "He is awake," Amanda Kloots said on Instagram.
• The Broadway and TV star was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital on March 30 after being diagnosed with pneumonia. He then tested positive for the coronavirus and was intubated on April 1.
• The illness has "severely damaged" the 41-year-old's lungs, and doctors were also forced to amputate his right leg.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Amanda Kloots's Instagram hashtag morphed from #wakeupnick to #nickiswoke on Tuesday, sharing with fans the welcome news that her husband Nick Cordero had woken up from a coma as he battles COVID-19.

"He is awake," she also said on her Instagram Stories, holding the couple's infant son, Elvis. "We did it."

The fitness instructor added: "It's just that Nick is so weak right now that even opening his eyes, closing his eyes, takes out, like, all of his energy." It will take time and physical therapy for him to regain his strength, she added.

The Canadian actor, who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2014 for his role in "Bullets Over Broadway," has been hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles since March 30. He was first diagnosed with pneumonia and then tested positive for coronavirus and wound up being intubated on April 1.

Kloots has shared updates about Cordero: news from doctors, pictures of the couple, hospital visits with their child, Broadway actors showing their support for the family, and numerous posts of people around the nation dancing and singing, using the viral #WakeUpNick hashtag.

A post shared by AK! ⭐️ (@amandakloots)May 8, 2020 at 5:58pm PDT

Cordero has had a weeks-long arduous battle with COVID-19, despite not having any pre-existing health conditions, according to Kloots.

She shared on Instagram that in 38 days in the ICU he picked up "an infection that caused his heart to stop," underwent dialysis, was put on a pacemaker, and experienced "two mini-strokes," septic shock, a fungus and holes in his lungs, blood clots, and a low blood count. While he was hooked up to a ventilator, Cordero developed complications with his blood flow, which eventually led to doctors having to amputate his right leg, she wrote.

"This disease does not only affect old people," Kloots added. "This is real. A perfectly healthy 41-year-old man! Bring awareness to his story. STAY HOME! FOLLOW GUIDELINES! This journey with Nick has been the hardest thing we've ever had to go through."

In another social media post, Kloots said Cordero hasn't experienced internal bleeding, but doctors have found that COVID-19 has "severely" impacted his lungs. They appear as if "he's been a smoker for 50 years," she said. "They are that damaged."

Cordero's theater credits also include "Waitress" and "Rock of Ages," and he's appeared in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Blue Bloods," "Going in Style," "Stand Up Guy," and more.

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